𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗬𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗬 [steve harrington]

chapter 41

welcome home
🎶 this town -niall horan

Today was the day, Izzie hadn't seen Steve since Christmas. The flight to Hawkins was miserable, all the waiting. When her roommates dropped her off at the airport, she nearly ran out the car. When her mom came to pick her up at the airport, she flew into the front seat. It's not like she missed Hawkins, she hated Hawkins in a geographic and cultural sense. However, she loved the people there. She loved Blair (so much that she had convinced her to come to Hawkins for spring break despite her hatred for the little town), Victorie, Max, Dustin, Robin, all her little shithead friends. Most of all, she loved Steve.

Her spring break started a few days before the Hawkins High break did, so she had made plans to spend the day alone with Steve while Robin was at school. Later that night, she had begged Steve to take her to watch Lucas in his championship game. She and Victorie sent letters back and forth often, so she was still well informed on the lives of the kids.

When she heard about Lucas' big game, she was set on going to support him. Personally, she was glad he was finding something of his own outside the world of monsters and mysteries. She was proud of him.

Truthfully, she was facing serious ptsd from all the run ins she had with the upside down, but being away from Hawkins has been good for her. She has felt a weight off her shoulders, she doesn't have to wait for the next horrible thing to happen. Her only worry was making sure Steve stayed safe in that devil town. She was beyond pissed about the fact that she didn't get home until the late hours of the night, so she would have to wait until morning to see Steve.

Izzie felt like a middle schooler, anxiously waiting for Steve's car to pull into her driveway. When it did, she jumped from the couch and ran out the door, not even waiting for him to knock. "Harrington!" She squealed, jumping into his arms. He smiled as he lifted her into a hug. "Damn I missed you." She sighed as he lowered her down.

His hands settled on her face as he pulled her in for a kiss, a short lived one. "Gross!" Robin yelled as she got out of the car. "Can you guys hurry? I'm going to be late for my pep rally." Izzie giggled as she saw Robins band outfit. Never gets old.

"Are you going to say hi, Rob?" The blonde questioned.

Robin shrugged, trying to play off her excitement. It didn't last long, because she quickly found herself hugging Izzie. "I missed you, princess. How dare you leave me alone with this shithead."

"I'm very sorry." She laughed. "But I want to hear everything about life in Hawkins. Everything."

-

Robin was in the backseat fixing her makeup at Steve filled her in on his life these past couple months. Izzie had already known most of it, because Steve sent ridiculously long letters weekly.

Izzie told him about all her weird professors, and how her roommates, Bria and Eve, both agreed that Steve was totally gorgeous. This in turn boosted Steve's ego, only a little.

"Robin are you listening?" Izzie asked midway through her story about Bria and her boyfriend Hayden when she realized Robin wasn't paying attention to her.

"Uh, yes." She responded as she applied her mascara.

"Really? What did I just say?" Izzie quipped.

"Something about Eve having sex with Link." She answered.

"No! I'm talking about Bria and Hayden!" Izzie groaned.

"Cut me some slack, please!" Robin huffed. "You're telling me months of information, and it is 7:00 in the morning. Plus, I have this stupid pep rally and I woke up looking like a corpse."

"You're worried about a pep rally? You expect to me believe that?" Steve said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah? So?" The younger girl replied.

"So we both know what this is about." Steve said.

"What's it about?!" Izzie asked, feeling the consequences of her absence.

"This is about Vickie!" Steve called out.

"Who's Vickie?!" Izzie questioned as she whipped skeins to face Robin.

"It's is not about Vickie." Robin shot back.

"It is, and you know what else? You gotta stop pretending to be someone you're not when you're around her." The older boy lectured.

"Who is Vickie?!" The blonde yelled out.

"Vickie is a girl in band." Robin answered.

"A girl that Robin totally has a massive crush on." Steve added.

"Robin! You have a crush and you didn't tell me!?" Izzie said in offense.

"Yeah, and instead of lying to Vickie and herself she needs to just be herself around her!"

"You're quoting me to me Steve." The younger girl responded.

"Yeah well maybe you need to start listening to yourself more often. Did you ever think about that?" The brunette reasoned. "I listened to you and me and Izzie are doing great!"

"It's not the same Steve." Robin sighed. "You two ask out someone and they say no. Big deal. Nothing happens. Maybe your ego is a little bruised. I ask out the wrong girl, and bam! I'm the town pariah."

"She's got a point." Izzie sighed. It wasn't fair, but it was true.

"I'd buy that, except Vickie is is definitely not the wrong girl." Steve defended.

"We just don't know that, do we?" The younger girl said.

"She returned Fast Times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds. Know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds?" He asked. Robin shook her head. "People who like boobies, Robin!"

"Ew!" Robin hissed.

"Gross, Steve! Don't say boobies." Izzie scolded.

"Boobies!" Steve exclaimed. "Not a big deal, okay? I like boobies, Robin likes boobies-"

"I have boobies." Izzie added, trying to feel included.

"Vickie likes boobies! Definitely." Steve fussed.

A silence filled the car, so in return Steve decides to push it one last time. "It's boobies!"